


I'd die a thousand deaths (all for the sake of love)

by KingsAndThieves (TehLotteh)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Egypt OC Chat, Egypt OC Ladybug, F/M, I'm a sucker for a tragic Chat Noir, Reference to Ancient Egypt Miraculous, Sorry Adrien, in passing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-21 23:22:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6061960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TehLotteh/pseuds/KingsAndThieves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette could recall, one night when she first truly noticed the extent of Chat's love for her, asking Tikki if it was just destiny that caused her kitty's heart to tick.</p><p>Adrien could remember, one night, asking Plagg what it was that really made Chat Noir, well, Chat Noir.</p><p>“For what it's worth, Adrien.. I'm sorry.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'd die a thousand deaths (all for the sake of love)

**Author's Note:**

> Quick little drabble type thing that came into my head after listening to Thousand Deaths by Globus Music (which I can thoroughly recommend <3 absolutely amazing piece of work!)
> 
> [Also only proofread twice because I just want to post it and I'll check it over in the morning and fix any problems then, so apologies if you find anything - feel free to let me know! It's a little shorter than intended but I may revisit it to extend it. Hope you enjoy!]

 

Marinette could recall, one night when she first truly noticed the extent of Chat's love for her, asking Tikki if it was just destiny that caused her kitty's heart to tick. Just as every Ladybug was blessed with fortune and every Chat Noir the opposite, did every Chat Noir fall in love with his Ladybug? She felt mean asking it, half wanting her to say no so that she could use it to stroke her ego, but then also wanting her to say yes so that it meant that it was just animal instinct. It would be easier to deal with, knowing that Chat Noir had no more of a say over his crush on her than she did about being half-Chinese.

Tikki had stopped munching on her cookie and swallowed, taking the time to think before floating over to nestle into Marinette's lap, the two curled up in her bed that evening, as Marinette leaned down to place her mug of hot chocolate on the floor and out of the way.

“Oh, Marinette,” her kwami spoke in her usual soft tone, giant blue eyes looking up to her with a tenderness that she had rarely seen. “When you and Chat Noir bond with the Miraculous, you're taking on more than a name, more than a duty. We kwami carry with us the histories of all our Chosen, and it's only natural that it affects you and the way you feel.”

“Do you mean that every Ladybug has rejected every Chat Noir? Has it been unrequited love since the very first pair?” Marinette had to admit, she felt a little confused on the topic. The way she understood it, Tikki was saying that it was a case of destiny more than anything, that while each generation of Chosen was different in their own way, there was a certain continuity between them.

“Actually,” Tikki smiled, placing her little hands on Marinette's thigh comfortingly, “You're the first to resist so long. It's a mutual attraction, a balance, you see? One day you two will find perfect harmony. It might not take the form of love, not in the sense that you're thinking of, Marinette, but you'll feel it. It will feel like the whole world suddenly makes sense, like there's nothing you can't do.”

It sounded a little cliché to her ears, but she had to admit that she had noticed the dynamic of their relationship change as time went on. She thought about how she felt after the transformation with Tikki, that sudden clarity of self, and tried to imagine achieving such a thing with her partner, whoever he was under the mask.

It certainly would make fighting Akumatised victims considerably easier if they acted as one entity.

Which, she had to admit, they did pretty well already.

“The difference really comes from the kwami you bond with,” she continued, breaking Marinette out of her thoughts. “Different emotions cling to us that we can pass on to each new Chosen. The Ladybugs I bond with are all brave and intelligent, just like you! When you need it, I can give you more – like in the Lucky Charm. When you use it, you're being resourceful, which is something passed down from each Ladybug to the next.”

“So what does Chat Noir's Cataclysm come from?”

 

* * *

 

“Love.”

“Love?” Adrien repeated, glancing to his kwami who was, at that moment, paws deep in a pile of warm Camembert. He knew he preferred his cheese to be just a hint melted, and since they had done an exceptional job on the Akuma that evening he had decided to treat Plagg to a little extra, also leaving him a little more open to his questions.

Still, that hadn't exactly been the answer he had been anticipating when he asked what it was that gave Chat Noir his power.

“You're trying to tell me that 'love' is what makes up a Chat Noir? I thought it was bad luck?”

“One in the same, kiddo, one in the same,” the kwami sighed, popping a small chunk of cheese into his mouth. “You think you're good, you're going strong, then bam! Your body's chemical receptors are going crazy and you're stood there with your jaw open and salivating all over your chin like some stupid dog. It makes you weak. Sure, all the world wants you to believe that love is some powerful emotion that makes you a better person, but all it does is destroy what once was.”

He paused, struggling to get his head around what Plagg was saying, and finding it even harder to agree. What he felt for Ladybug made him feel anything but weak; she inspired him, she motivated him. Every day he strove to be a better person in her eyes, to never stop working hard. When she smiled at him it was like nothing else mattered. It was like being wrapped in warm blankets, like safety and security.

It felt like he was wanted, and there was no greater sensation that he had ever experienced, and he doubted he would ever find one to trump it either.

He found his mind drifting unwillingly to his father, his once warm smile and open arms replaced by cold indifference, a lack of joy at seeing his own flesh and blood. Everything had changed when his mother left, and Adrien found himself frowning a little.

“No, Plagg, I think you're wrong. It's not love that destroys. It's the lack of love that hurts the most.”

“I never lost a kitten who wasn't lovestruck,” Plagg responded, voice detached and more distant than Adrien was used to hearing from him. “Never had one who wasn't either. Every time it's the same, kid. You've seen it once, you've seen it a thousand times. I thought you'd be different, what with your home life.”

He frowned as the kwami abandoned his cheese, appetite seemingly lost for now, and floated over to the window to glance out to the darkening sky, placing a paw against the glass. His large green eyes caught his Chosen's looking at him in the reflection and he drooped a little, sounding older and more tired than usual.

“For what it's worth, Adrien.. I'm sorry.”

 

* * *

 

Two thousand years ago, two heroes chosen by the gods spent their final minutes together. She whispered his name softly as she carded fingers through his hair, the sun beating roughly down on their backs, but she didn't care. The hot Egyptian sun was sapping her strength, even through the curtained windows in the back of her room, but it was nothing compared to the strength it took not to break down and collapse on his body.

His breath caught in his throat with a hiss of pain, unfocused green eyes glancing up to her in an attempt to seek comfort. She lost her control then and let out a strangled sob, bowing her head and feeling hot tears prick at her eyes, the blue made even brighter by the welling water in them.

“Don't cry, my love,” he murmured, stretching a shaky hand up to her cheek and resting it there, a thumb wiping just under her eyes. She always marvelled at how his nails resembled feline claws, and she wondered if they came as part of the deal with his own kwami, or if he grew them like that himself. She knew that his ears had to be fake (they twitched and were sensitive if she nipped them) and his eyes (for who had eyes without whites and cat-slit eyes?), but she didn't know if anything else actually changed with his god's blessing.

Certainly his mortality hadn't.

“I can't purify this,” she spoke miserably, other hand running down his arm and tracing the two, small pinpricks in his wrist. A gift from one of the evil ones, no doubt, sent to kill her, and had her feline not been there the asp would surely have found its intended target. Now its poison ran thick in his blood, and she knew it was only a matter of time before his heart gave out. She could see his torso twitch with uneven palpitations, struggling and fighting but to no avail. It made her want to tear out her hair, to scream, to sacrifice all she could just to bring him back to her safe and sound. He may be her servant to anyone else, but between the two of them he was her world.

His hand dropped to rest at the broach at her breast, a beautiful red beetle inlaid with black stones, and he smiled weakly. “It's all right, my lady. You are safe, and that is all the knowledge I need.”

“But I need you, Mau. You can't leave me alone here.”

She took his hand in hers and squeezed tightly, feeling him try and return it with such vigour, and raised it to her cheek to hold it close as the tears started to fall. Mau sighed sadly as his eyes seemed to lose focus more, before he gave in and closed them, nuzzling her thighs just a little. He couldn't see her well enough any more, so he decided not to try. It was better for him to remember her in all her perfect glory than in this blurred state, and he didn't want to think of her crying over him.

“You are the bravest, strongest woman I know. I don't regret what I have done, and I'd do it a thousand times to keep you safe. I'll be waiting for you in the afterlife, my beloved Cleo,” he spoke quietly, tensing as his heart took an erratic turn once more. She knew it was almost the end but she couldn't bear to accept it, short, sharp sounds of denial leaving her lips. His chest rose once more, twice, then stopped.

She pulled him up closer to her and buried her head in his hair, that soft, brown hair that she loved so much. Her kitten was gone, and he had lost his life in order to spare hers.

She cried over her loss for so long that time lost all meaning, but she had to cling on to his words. They would be together again in the afterlife. She didn't hear the sound of his transformation ending, didn't see the small black god cuddle up to his deceased Chosen in mourning. He was dead, and it was because of her.

 

* * *

 

 

Marinette could recall, one night when she first truly noticed the extent of Chat's love for her, asking Tikki if it was just destiny that caused her kitty's heart to tick.

Adrien could remember, one night, asking Plagg what it was that really made Chat Noir, well, Chat Noir.

And as he lay on his side facing the unmoving corpse of Hawk Moth, bleeding out with his Lady cuddling him close to her, begging for him to keep his eyes open, just to stay with her a few more minutes, he began to understand what it was that had made Plagg so sad.

For him, it was just one selfless act to throw himself in front of a blade to save the woman he loved.

For Plagg, it was one more kitten he had cursed to drown, and one more kitten to lose in the future.

For Ladybug, it was the realisation that the sudden clarity of harmony that Tikki had told her about started when their nemesis tore his chest open, and ended when his final breath fell from his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> I believe "Mau" is what the Ancient Egyptians used to call cats (don't hold me to it), and yes Cleo was roughly based on Cleopatra because I have forgotten all other Egyptian knowledge.
> 
> One day I'll write something that doesn't involve killing Adrien. (I do have a oneshot in the works where he doesn't die, but it will still have the Major Character Death tag sooo).
> 
> Also I haven't forgotten Green-Eyed Monster, I've just hit a little block where I confused myself with the plot so I'm writing smaller pieces until I fix my knots.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! If you want to chat at all, hmu on tumblr at kinloch-ho. I don't bite, promise :3


End file.
